Friday, March 04, 2016

Today was art and exercise.
I took the train to Edinburgh, getting off at Haymarket then walking down towards Dean Village and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (2,053 steps; 98 calories; 25 minutes). I completely forgot how walkable Edinburgh is (not cycleable as my student days proved to me that every route is uphill).

Verdict: interesting in parts - some galleries were closed (Picasso and Cubism, boo!), and the British Art Show 8 was quite frankly crap, with only a few notable exceptions. I don't really engage well with scrapbook-style collections of ephemera, fossilised poo, or work that is only notable cos it is fucking huge. If you do go however, do not miss seeing Lynette Yiadom-Boakye's incredible oil portraits, or the sheer spectacle of Broomberg and Chanarin's Catch-22 archaeological exhibit.
Elsewhere in the gallery - a Paolozzi that looks like a Monument Valley set, beautiful and inspiring work by Peploe and Fergusson, and a trio of adorable Venice views from Cadell.
The cafe has decent cake and coffee, with what looked like delicious salads of squash, quinoa, and so on.
Walked back to Waverley along Princes Street, lunched at the other national gallery then to the train back to Aberdour.
(totals = 10,418 steps; 5.8km; 420 calories ... not that I'm counting).